WHEN IS REALITY REAL?: YOUTH PERCEPTIONS OF MTV REALITY PROGRAMS A thesis presented to the faculty of the Scripps College of Communication of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Rachel M. Potratz November 2007 2 This thesis titled WHEN IS REALITY REAL?: YOUTH PERCEPTIONS OF MTV REALITY PROGRAMS by RACHEL M. POTRATZ has been approved for the School of Telecommunications and the Scripps College of Communication by Norma Pecora Professor, School of Telecommunications Gregory J. Shepherd Dean, Scripps College of Communication 3 Abstract POTRATZ, RACHEL M., M.A., November 2007, School of Telecommunications WHEN IS REALITY REAL?: YOUTH PERCEPTIONS OF MTV REALITY PROGRAMS (125 p). Director of Thesis: Norma Pecora This thesis examines how college freshmen relate to the personalities and content on MTV reality programs. Drawing from current theories about how viewers relate to television such as realism perceptions, identification, wishful identification, and parasocial interaction, this project looks takes a qualitative approach to understanding the particular relationships that exist between young viewers and the content and young casts of MTV reality programs. Eight college freshmen at a Midwestern university were interviewed about their perceptions of MTV reality programs, particularly Real World, Laguna Beach and The Hills. Additionally, a survey of 78 students was conducted in an introductory telecommunications course. It was found that judgments about the realism were based primarily on the students’ use of comparisons with their own lives and experiences. Additionally, knowledge of production processes played a role in realism perceptions. It was also found that students engaged in parasocial interaction and used reality television to learn about the world. Real life experiences, however, were shown to override learning from television. Approved: _____________________________________________________________ Norma Pecora Professor, School of Telecommunications 4 Acknowledgments While my graduate work at Ohio University has been both enlightening and demanding, the most difficult part of this experience was leaving the comforts of home, family and friends in Idaho. I must first thank my parents, Ellen and Steve Potratz, for encouraging me to jump at the chance to pursue a graduate education, even if it meant moving across the country. Their excellent advice motivated me to tackle the challenge, when fear may have prevented me from doing so. Thank you also to my grandparents, Barbara and Clancy Potratz, who provided both financial support and constant reminders that my tenure at Ohio University was well worth the toil as an important investment in my future. Research can sometimes be a messy endeavor, as my roommates, Shana Seifke and Jenny Lawless, can attest to. Thank you to them for being patient with my piles of papers, books and research articles spread out all over our living room floor for weeks on end. I must also thank them, as well as Matt Falk and Ann Tsao, for being the first of much needed friends to take me in when I moved to Athens. Thank you to Scott Wallace, who has been there to distract me from my stresses, listen to my troubles, hug me when I was homesick, and make my days at Ohio University time to be enjoyed, not simply to be endured. Thanks is owed, of course to the eight students who allowed me to pick their brains about their MTV viewing experiences. Thank you to Dr. Mia Consalvo and Dr. Roger Cooper for granting me an extra quarter to work on this thesis. It was time much needed and well spent. I also want to thank Dr. Greg Newton for being willing to sit on 5 my committee and help me create a workable course schedule. Thanks to Casey Hayward, not only for his help on my committee, but for unwittingly preparing me for one of the most tedious parts of my research. He provided me with hours of practice transcribing interviews, which came in handy when it came time to do my own transcription work. I also owe thanks to Alex Thompson, who assisted me with my survey research. These acknowledgements would not be complete without thanks to Dr. Norma Pecora, my chair and adviser who guided me through my entire graduate education. Dr. Pecora was endlessly patient with me as I learned how to conduct research and write for academia. I am grateful for her voice of reason when I panicked about the everyday troubles that graduate students encounter, and for her easy way of giving me direction when I felt completely lost (which was often.) She is ultimately the reason that I made the decision to embark on this research project, and I could not have completed it without her. 6 Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………3 Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………………...4 List of Tables……………….………………………………………………………….….8 List of Figures…….……… ………………………………………….……………….…..9 Introduction……… ………………………………………………………………….….10 Chapter 1: Realism, Identification and Parasocial Interaction…………………...……..13 Realism…………………………………………………………............………..13 Cultivation Theory……………………………………………………………….18 Identification……………………………………………………………………..20 Wishful Identification……………………………………………………………23 Parasocial Interaction …………………………………………………………...25 Chapter 2: MTV and Reality Television…………….………………………………….29 MTV Shifting Strategies: Programming and Branding……………….…………31 MTV Brand Image…………………………………………………….…………35 MTV: Past Research………………………………………………….…………38 Reality TV Defined…………………………………………………….………...40 History of Reality TV…………………………………………….……………...43 Reality TV: The Audience……………………………………….……………...45 Reality TV: The Appeal………………………………………….……………..46 Reality TV: Criticisms…………………………………………….…………….47 Reality TV: Third-Person Perception…………………………………………...49 Reality TV: Drama………………………………………………….…………..50 Reality TV: Audience Perceptions……………………………….……………..51 Chapter 3: Research Questions, Audience Reception Theory and Methodology………54 Research Questions………………………………………………….…………...54 Audience Reception………………………………………………….….……….55 Participant Selection………………………………………………….………….56 Surveys……………………………………………………………….…………..59 Discussion…………………………………………………………….……….…65 Chapter 4: How Real is Reality?: Student Interviews..………………….……………...67 Sucked into Reality Programs…………………………………………………...67 Do Students See Them as Peers………………………………………………....71 How Real is Real World?……………………………………………………......81 Realism: Exaggerated Behavior………………………………………………...85 7 Realism: Realistic for the Rest of the World……………………………………89 Learning from Reality Television……………...............................................…...92 Chapter 5: What Does it all Mean?......................…………………….……………...…..98 How Youth Relate to Reality Television Personalities……….………………….99 Identification………………………………………………………………...….100 Realism: Production Style……………………………………………………...100 Realism: Using Comparisons…………………………………………………..101 Comparisons and Identity…………………………………....................………102 Learning…………………………………….......................................................103 Comments………………………………………………………………………105 Additional Comments…………………………………………………………..108 References…….………………………………………………………………………...109 Appendix A: MTV Programming Schedules for 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2007...............117 Appendix B: Survey Form…..…………………………………………………………121 Appendix C: Sample Interview Questions……………………………………………..122 Appendix D: Descriptions of Programs………………………………………………..123 Appendix E: Institutional Review Board Approval…………………………………....125 8 List of Tables Tables 3.1 Interview Participants……………………………………………………………..58 3.2 Student Television Viewing………………………………………………………60 3.3 Student MTV Viewing……………………………………………………………60 3.4 Responses to Survey Statement 1………………………………………………....61 3.5 Responses to Survey Statement 2…………………………………………………63 9 List of Figures Figure 2.1 MTV Viewership……………………………………………………………………30 10 Introduction One cannot deny that the MTV network has, in the nearly thirty decades that it has been on the air, become far more than an entertainment outlet. MTV has defined a generation, hence, the term “MTV Generation”, and for many teens, tweens, and college students defined what it is to be young and cool. Yet, we have seldom stopped to examine how this network has influenced its young audiences. In the past MTV reached viewers with larger-than-life rock personalities, but more recently the network explicates the teenage experience to viewers using their own peers. Through reality television programs such as Laguna Beach, and the long running fixture, Real World, MTV has showcased the every day activities of “average” youth, setting their friendships, heartbreaks, squabbles and shopping exploits to music to define what it is to be young and cool. My first experiences with the high school reality drama, Laguna Beach, sparked the beginnings of this project. Having long since graduated from high school, I found myself fascinated at the glamour and sophistication of the young personalities, and wondering how so much could have changed since I had walked the halls of my high school. Is this really the life of the average teenager today? Are these really just normal high school students, or are they highly polished and sexualized products of MTV? I wondered if this really was representative of the reality of MTV viewers, and how they perceived these unlikely television personalities. In this project I examine MTV, reality television, and how viewers interpret programs that claim to be real and bear resemblance to their lives. Much of this study 11 focuses